Redirect examination of Dennis Fung (part 2)

📄 Redirect examination of Dennis Fung (part 2) — Tuesday, November 5, 1996

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CIVIL\1996\NOV\5\REDIRECT-EXAMINATION-OF-DENNIS.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 9 of 57

◀ Cross-examination of Dennis Fung (part 1) Recross-examination of Dennis Fung ▶

Witness: Dennis Fung
Examiner: Robert Blasier
Called by: Defense • Date: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 • Utterances: 109

Lambert conducts redirect examination of Dennis Fung, rehabilitating him after Blasier's cross on evidence handling. Lambert walks Fung through presumptive blood tests at the Rockingham master bathroom and Bronco, establishes precautions against false positives, and addresses Blasier's attacks on Fung's use of pencil, erased item numbers, and transposed measurements. The examination ends with a dog identification segment clarifying that the Akita seen at Bundy was not present at Rockingham, and a clarifying question about the blood vial being placed in a trash bag alongside other evidence — not to conceal it specifically.

# 1 (The instrument herein referred to as a Photo containing item No. 11 was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 2137.)

# 2 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) This is in the portion of the house where you found the glove; isn't it, Mr. Fung?

# 3 A:

It is.

# 4 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Misstates the evidence. He didn't find the glove. Fuhrman found the glove.

# 5 THE COURT:

You may rephrase the question.

# 6 Q:

Is it in the area where you collected the glove, Mr. Fung?

# 7 A:

Yes, it is.

# 8 Q:

Where was the glove located in relationship to this item No. 11?

# 9 A:

If I could refer to this other board next to it --

# 10 Q:

Okay.

# 11 A:

-- It would make it easier. The wire I believe is in this area here. And the glove was found approximately here. So it was west, west of the glove and the air conditioner.

# 12 Q:

In order to get from where the glove is, out to the front of the house, do you have to go past this wire?

# 13 A:

Yes.

# 14 Q:

And was this wire hanging down in such a fashion that you would have to move the wire out of the way in order to get past it?

# 15 A:

Yes.

# 16 Q:

And I'd like to show you some other presumptive blood tests that you did that same day.

First, could you tell the jury what this photograph is? This -- going to need a new number too. This will be 2138, if you will.

# 17 (The instrument herein referred to as photo of Mr. Fung swabbing draing of shower was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 2138.)

# 18 Q:

What does this photograph depict, Mr. Fung?

# 19 A:

That photograph depicts me holding a cotton applicator in the drain of the master shower.

# 20 Q:

And what are you doing with the cotton applicator?

# 21 A:

I'm doing a presumptive test for blood.

# 22 Q:

Okay. Let's see the next photograph, please. There it is. This doesn't show-up too well on the screen, but what color is at the end of your cotton swab there?

# 23 A:

That is a pink color indicating the presence of blood.

# 24 Q:

Okay. This would be 2139. And this is in the shower in the master bathroom; is that correct?

# 25 A:

That's correct.

# 26 Q:

Let's now look at the next one, please.

# 27 THE COURT:

Just a minute. Hold on a second. This is 2139.

# 28 MR. LAMBERT:

Last one was.

# 29 THE COURT:

What was 2138.

# 30 MR. PETROCELLI:

The first photo.

# 31 MR. LAMBERT:

We did two photos. 2138 was a far away and 2139 was the cotton swab. This is 2140 and what does this depict, Mr.'Fung?

# 32 (The instrument herein referred to as photo of cotton swab was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 2138.)

# 33 DENNIS FUNG:

That depicts the master -- in the master bathroom, there's a sink and I'm holding a cotton applicator next to that sink.

# 34 (The instrument herein referred to as Photo depicting Master bathroom sink was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 2140.)

# 35 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) And what are you doing with the cotton applicator?

# 36 A:

I had just tested the drain, the drain area.

# 37 Q:

Okay. That's 2140. Let's see 2141.

# 38 (The instrument herein referred to as photo of pink cotton applicator indicating positive was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 2141.)

# 39 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Can you describe what we see in this picture?

# 40 A:

In that photograph the cotton applicator is pink and I had just performed a presumptive test for blood phenolphthalein and it was positive.

# 41 Q:

And it's that pink color that indicates positive for blood; is that correct?

# 42 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. That misstates the testimony. Doesn't show positive for blood, it's not a positive test for blood.

# 43 THE COURT:

Overruled. It's presumptive test for blood.

# 44 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Is that right, sir?

# 45 A:

It is a positive -- presumptive test for blood and it is positive.

# 46 Q:

Now, yesterday, Mr. Blasier asked you some questions about whether some other kinds of substances could cause a false positive reading when you do a phenolphthalein presumptive test. Do you remember that?

# 47 A:

Yes.

# 48 Q:

Is there anything that criminalists can do to guard against a false positive result in a phenolphthalein test?

# 49 A:

Yes.

# 50 Q:

By performing the phenolphthalein test in a two step fashion. The chemicals that are oxidizers can be eliminated at -- from being false positives because the phenolphthalein will turn pink when those chemicals are added immediately without the addition of hydrogen peroxide.

What we look for is that the phenolphthalein turns pink right at the addition of the hydrogen peroxide.

# 51 Q:

So by using those precautions, you can guard against getting a false positive result?

# 52 A:

Yes.

# 53 Q:

And did you use those precautions in this, this case at Rockingham?

# 54 A:

Correct.

# 55 Q:

And did you get anything that appeared to you to be a false positive result?

# 56 A:

No.

# 57 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. No foundation. He would know what it looked like.

# 58 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 59 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) And I think I forgot to mention you also did one of these tests for blood on that blood drop on the door of the Bronco, the very first item that you collected?

# 60 A:

Yes. A presumptive test for blood was done on the Bronco also.

# 61 Q:

And what was the result of that test?

# 62 A:

That was positive.

# 63 Q:

And did you, again, guard against there being any false positive results?

# 64 A:

Yes.

# 65 Q:

And let me ask you this, Mr. Fung: How many crime scenes have you investigated?

# 66 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

# 67 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 68 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Let me ask you this, Mr. Fung: How many phenolphthalein tests have you conducted?

# 69 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Irrelevant.

# 70 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 71 DENNIS FUNG:

I approximate that I have done in the neighborhood of 10,000.

KEY QUOTE

# 72 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Now, Mr. Blasier asked you some questions about you using pencil to fill out some of your forms. Does the fact that you used pencil rather than pen effect, in any way, the quality of the evidence that you collect?

# 73 A:

No.

# 74 Q:

And Mr. Blasier asked you some questions about you erasing one of the items, changing 18 to 17. Does that effect, in any way, the evidence that you collected?

# 75 A:

No.

# 76 Q:

Did you do that simply to correct a clerical error?

# 77 A:

Yes.

# 78 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Leading and also misstates the testimony.

# 79 THE COURT:

Sustained.

# 80 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) What did you do that for, Mr. Fung?

# 81 A:

The item of evidence, the blood vial was collected back at Rockingham and the shoes, which were item 18, were collected back -- or at the laboratory and I wanted to keep those numbers sequential on the property report to cut down on paperwork.

So I made, even though those item numbers were written down as transposed by Ms. Mazzola, I wanted to make sure that they were kept in the same chronological order.

KEY QUOTE

# 82 Q:

And Mr. Blasier also pointed out to you that apparently some of the measurements got transposed from one document to another document in regard to this item number 14, for example, here.

Does that change in any way, whether that blood is Mr. Simpson's blood, if you change the location of the items on your report?

# 83 MR. BLASIER:

Objection. Misstates the evidence.

# 84 THE COURT:

Overruled.

# 85 DENNIS FUNG:

No, it does not.

# 86 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Let's now take a look at the picture of the Rockingham -- well, let me ask you this first: Mr. Blasier asked you some questions yesterday in which he implied that the dog named Kato, which was at the Bundy crime scene, was also at the Rockingham crime scene when you were collecting evidence. Do you remember that, sir?

# 87 A:

Yes, I do.

# 88 Q:

Let me show you a picture here of the dog. No, the other one. Is this the dog that you saw at Rockingham, sir?

# 89 A:

That appears to be a likeness of the dog I saw at Rockingham. It was a dark Chow.

# 90 Q:

Dark Chow. Let me show you another picture.

# 91 (The instrument herein referred to as Photo of defendant's residence with black dog, 7/31/96 was marked for identification as Plaintiffs' Exhibit No. 1984.)

# 92 MR. LAMBERT:

We need an exhibit number.

# 93 THE COURT:

We've got some photographs.

# 94 MR. PETROCELLI:

1984 was the first photo.

# 95 MR. LAMBERT:

This is number what? 28.

# 96 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) Did you see this dog at Rockingham that day, sir?

# 97 (Indicating to Exhibit No. 28, depicting Akita.)

# 98 A:

No, I did not.

# 99 MR. LAMBERT:

Thank you. I have nothing further.

# 100 MR. BLASIER:

Mr.'Fung, does it matter what kind of a dog --

# 101 MR. LAMBERT:

Excuse me. Can I ask one or more questions, Your Honor?

# 102 THE COURT:

Okay.

# 103 Q:

(BY MR. LAMBERT) When you -- when you had that trash bag that you put that vial of blood into to take out to the truck --

# 104 A:

Yes.

# 105 Q:

-- Did you have other items of evidence that you also had in that trash bag to take out to the truck?

# 106 A:

Yes.

# 107 Q:

So it was not just the blood vial but all of those items of evidence that you wanted to keep out of the eyes of the media?

# 108 A:

Yes.

# 109 Q:

Thank you.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Dennis Fung

I approximate that I have done in the neighborhood of 10,000.

Lambert's attempt to establish Fung's expertise with phenolphthalein tests, rehabilitating his credibility after cross-examination attacks.

Dennis Fung

The item of evidence, the blood vial was collected back at Rockingham and the shoes, which were item 18, were collected back -- or at the laboratory and I wanted to keep those numbers sequential on the property report to cut down on paperwork.

Fung explains the pencil erasure and item number transposition as a mundane clerical correction, directly countering Blasier's implication of evidence tampering.

Dennis Fung

What we look for is that the phenolphthalein turns pink right at the addition of the hydrogen peroxide.

Fung explains the two-step method used to guard against false positives, rehabilitating the reliability of his blood testing at the scene.

Dennis Fung

Yes... it was not just the blood vial but all of those items of evidence that you wanted to keep out of the eyes of the media.

Clarifies that the trash bag was used to conceal all evidence from media, not to single out the blood vial for suspicious handling.

Evidence (10)

Plaintiffs' 2137

Photo containing item No. 11, located near where the glove was collected at Rockingham

introduced, used to establish wire obstacle between glove location and front of house

Plaintiffs' 2138

Photo of Fung swabbing drain of master shower

introduced

Plaintiffs' 2139

Photo of cotton swab showing pink color indicating presumptive positive for blood

introduced

Plaintiffs' 2140

Photo depicting master bathroom sink, Fung holding cotton applicator at drain

introduced

Plaintiffs' 2141

Photo of pink cotton applicator indicating positive phenolphthalein presumptive test

introduced

Plaintiffs' 1984

Photo of defendant's residence with black dog, dated 7/31/96

introduced to identify the dog seen at Rockingham as a dark Chow

+ 4 more

Notable Exchanges (3)

Robert Blasier•Hiroshi Fujisaki

Blasier objected that Lambert misstated evidence by saying Fung 'found' the glove — Fuhrman found it. Judge sustained and Lambert rephrased.

strategic

Tom Lambert•Hiroshi Fujisaki•Daniel Petrocelli

Brief procedural confusion over exhibit numbering for the shower photographs, with Lambert, Petrocelli, and the judge sorting out which number applied to which photo.

routine

Tom Lambert•Robert Blasier

After Lambert said 'I have nothing further,' Blasier began to question Fung but Lambert interrupted to ask one more follow-up question about the trash bag, which the judge allowed.

strategic

Light Moments (1)

Tom Lambert

Lambert shows Fung a photo of the Akita and asks if he saw this dog at Rockingham; Fung flatly says no — the whole dog-identification segment has a slightly absurdist quality as Lambert distinguishes between OJ's dark Chow at Rockingham and the Akita at Bundy.

Credibility Attacks (1)

⚔ Dennis Fung

rehabilitation from prior cross-examination

Lambert systematically rehabilitated Fung on each point Blasier attacked: use of pencil on forms, erasure and renumbering of item 18 to 17, transposed measurements on item 14, and the trash bag used for the blood vial — Fung provided innocent explanations for each.

Objections

8 objections (2 sustained, 4 overruled)

Proceeding 8149 • 109 utterances • Defense witness

Civil Trial

Department 103